by the author of dead companies walking

Monthly Archives: October 2014

Wednesday was a big day for my fund. Earnings season is upon us and two of our largest longs reported quarterly results. I expected both companies to smash analysts’ estimates. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. You’d think I’d be celebrating big gains in both stocks, but unfortunately, you’d only be half right.

Too bad this isn’t baseball. Batting .500 will get you into the Hall of Fame in that sport. In my game, though, it generally won’t get you too far.

The sky has been falling an awful lot lately. Every couple of days, something spooks investors into short-lived selloffs. First, everybody freaked out about Ebola. This week, the shooting in Canada’s capital tanked the Dow by two percent.

I can’t count how many temporary, news-driven declines like these I’ve lived through in my career. But I don’t know if I’ve ever witnessed such widespread “Headline Risk.” There are so many Chicken Littles out there with fingers poised nervously over panic buttons, I’m starting to think a better name for the phenomenon might be “Headline Opportunity.”

I rarely do anything when the markets veer over one percent in either direction in a single session. Most of the time, I wait to see if the movement carries over to the next day or the next week. But if I was inclined to act, I’d be a buyer during these downswings.

Last week, I took another trip to interview management teams in their corporate headquarters. All told for my career, I’ve met with more than 1500 executives across the US now. This particular trip took me to a number of companies in Dallas and its outlying areas. It was a fast-paced and tiring, but the most exhausting part of it came after I landed back here in the Bay Area.

I only live 22 miles from San Francisco International Airport but it took me an hour and a half to drive home. As I crawled through traffic over the Golden Gate Bridge, I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would bother moving here. Sure, it’s beautiful, but it’s hard to enjoy the scenery when you’re sitting in gridlock–especially when you’re paying some of the highest real estate prices in the country, if not the world to do so.

First, some welcome good news during what has been a gloomy start to autumn: Publishers Weekly gave my forthcoming book Dead Companies Walking its first review–and it was very positive. Here’s an excerpt:

Hedge fund manager Fearon shares his take on why companies fail in this surprisingly entertaining mix of business guide and memoir. Fearon … isn’t shy about revealing some of his financial missteps … But, as he insists, his mistakes—and his observation of others’—have helped him recognize key warning signs of a company about to tank … The final takeaway of this spirited book is that “learning to love failure all over again” can help America recover the adventurous spirit that Fearon believes our economy needs.

The book’s two main messages are that failure is far more common in business and investing than most people want to admit and that even very smart people sometimes make very dumb decisions. As I readily and repeatedly admit in the book, I’m no exception. I’ve made plenty of boneheaded mistakes as an investor and a businessperson. And, apparently, I’m not done making them. This week I goofed big time.

Last Wednesday, I published an article on Seeking Alpha praising the retailer J.C. Penney (ticker: JCP) and discussing why I covered my previous short position and bought a six figure position in the company. Today, at the company’s analyst day, management lowered guidance for same store sales growth for the upcoming 3rd quarter. Its stock promptly cratered. By day’s end, it was down just under 11 percent. Oof. That’s embarrassing–and expensive. Making matters worse, as I wrote last week, another stock in my fund–Trinity Industries–fell sharply after Jim Cramer predicted doom for the company. Add it up and I’m ready for October to be over already.

Bad runs are inevitable in investing. I’ve been through them before. The important thing is how you react to them. So, what am I going to do now? First, I’m going to stop crying. Then I’m going to do some serious thinking, and self-examination.

A lot of investors have been struggling this week with a consistently bad tape, but Wednesday was particularly painful around my neck of the woods. First thing in the morning, CNBC’s Jim Cramer told millions of viewers that a story in the Wall Street Journal was “disastrous” for one of the largest holdings in my fund’s portfolio, Trinity Industries (TRN). The stock instantly melted down and dropped almost 9 percent on the day, erasing months of solid gains. It dropped another 4 percent yesterday.

Ouch.

I respect Jim Cramer a great deal for his knowledge, his energy, and his charitable works. And I pride myself on never “promoting my book” by getting into pointless he said-he said debates about stocks. (When I say, “promoting my book,” I don’t mean my forthcoming book Dead Companies Walking—available for pre-order now!–I mean my book, as in my fund’s portfolio.) I’m not a “buy, tell, sell” guy looking to make a buck by convincing other people to copy my trades so that I can sell into a temporary rally. I hold my average investment 12-24 months, and I want my performance to be a function of my intellectual ability, not my skill at promoting myself or my fund. But in this case, I am genuinely confused by Mr. Cramer’s claims about Trinity and other railcar manufacturers.

Far from being disastrous, recent news only bolsters my confidence in the company.

"[Scott Fearon's] insights on the common ways that mature companies often doom themselves apply equally well to start-ups. Every business, young or old, needs to avoid the ... mistakes that he outlines."

About the Author

Scott Fearon has spent thirty years in the financial services industry.
Since 1991, Scott has managed a hedge fund in Northern California that invests in fast-growing companies with little or no Wall Street coverage while shorting the stocks of distressed businesses on their way bankruptcy.